12 THE ASU DIU.B OW<B U Lek aia 
Nature Preserves Commission at Work 
I. A. S. members will recall that the last session of the State Legislature, 
at the request of an Illinois Nature Preserves Committee headed by I. A. S. 
Director George Fell, passed two bills setting up an Illinois Nature Pre- 
serves Commission. The following account, digested from -an article in 
THE ILLINOIS NATURAL HISTORY SURVEY REPORTS (May 1964), 
summarizes the work of the Commission: 
The Legislature established an Illinois Nature Preserves Commission 
of nine members, to be appointed by the governor with the advice of the 
Chief of the Illinois Natural History Survey and the Director of the Illinois 
State Museum. Representatives of the Department of Conservation, the 
Illinois Natural History Survey. and the Illinois State Museum were to 
serve as advisors of the Commission but were not to have a vote. The 
powers and duties of the Commission were to: 
1. Approve or disapprove the acquisition or disposal by the Department 
of Conservation of nature preserves areas; 
9. Advise, approve, or disapprove concerning the management of such 
areas; 
3. Formulate policies for the selection, acquisition, management, and pro- 
tection of nature preserves; 
4. Maintain registries and records of nature preserves and other areas of 
educational or scientific value as habitats for rare and endangered 
species of plants and animals in the state. 
A second bill amended older legislation to give the Department of 
Conservation authorization, subject to the approval of the Commission and 
the governor, to acquire, by gift, purchase, grant, exchange, dedication, 
or condemnation, any additions to the nature preserves system, and to 
manage them in a manner approved by the Illinois Nature Preserves 
Commission. 
Harlow B. Mills, Chief of the Natural History Survey, and Milton 
Thompson, Director of the Illinois State Museum, presented a list of 
candidates to Governor Otto Kerner, who then appointed the following 
members of the Commission: James Brown IV, Dr. Margery C. Carlson, 
Elton Fawks, George B. Fell, Dr. S. Charles Kendeigh, Dr. Willard D. 
Klimstra, Edward M. Levin, Jr.. Charles G. Sauers, and Mrs Charles R. 
Walgreen. At its first meeting in Chicago on Jan. 30, 1964, the Commission 
elected Dr. Kendeigh as Chairman; Mr. Fawks as Vice-Chairman; and Mr. 
Fell as Secretary. 
At a subsequent meeting on March 19, several areas were mentioned 
as possible nature preserves to be established under the new system. Survey 
botanist Robert Evers (author of Some Unusual Natural Areas in Illinois 
and a Few of Their Plants — Biological Notes No. 50) was asked to examine 
some of the potential preserves and report back to the Commission. 
_ Persons desiring more information about the Commission and _ its 
activities may contact its Chairman, Dr. S. Charles Kendeigh, at the De- 
partment of Zoology, University of Illinois, Urbana, Ill. 
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